


Third in Command

by timelesslord



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Disabled Character, Disabled Character of Color, F/F, Gen, Lesbians in Space, M/M, No Smut, OC heavy, Original Character(s), Past Child Abuse, Physical Therapy, Post-Star Trek (2009), Space Politics, Star Trek: AOS, Starship Enterprise (Star Trek), Swearing, Tarsus IV, all the gays, canon has been roasted at 450 and picked for juicy bits, i said there was time travel but i changed my mind no time travel anymore, no spellcheck we die like mne, people dealing with trauma badly, slow burn but its not the main focus, so much swearing, thats not my joke but its very accurate, therapy dogs, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-06 01:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15183308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timelesslord/pseuds/timelesslord
Summary: Vulcan is destroyed. Starfleet is in ruins. A young James T. Kirk finds himself the captain of the Starship Enterprise, with Spock as his Second. He's missing a Third.Skye Johnson shouldn't be here. She's fucked up so many times Starfleet would kicked her out, but after half their officers died in the Battle of Vulcan they can't afford to let even her go. She figures it's probably for the best that she'll never see the inside of a Starship- until she meets Kirk.A story about overcoming isolation, found families, and trying to do your damn job when the Captain and the First Officer won't stop making moon eyes at each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to put out a fair warning that this story is very OC heavy. Though I suspect that Kirk and Skye will share narration pretty evenly, Skye's story will probably take precedent. If it's any consolation, I've been writing Skye for six years, so i can at least promise that she's a fully fleshed out character.  
> Another warning- I haven't posted fanfiction since i was a freshman in high school, and I just graduated. I'm trying to get back in the saddle, so this might be slow-going and a little episodic to start with. Please bear with me. I love you already.  
> Also, a lot of creative liberties were taken with the concept of a "Third". I think Scotty is 3rd in command in canon, but i sort of made it a different thing than what it actually is, so my apologies if that is important to you.

Skye missed tequila so goddamn much. 

Earth, in all it’s fucking innovation and glory, had somehow phased out the greatest thing it had ever invented- the liquor Skye had tossed back in high school like there was no tomorrow. She was sure it must still exist  _ somewhere _ , but she couldn’t find it anywhere on this stupid fucking Starfleet base. Nobody had even heard of it; she had to deal with whiskey and bourbon and rum instead. But sometimes you need to get wasted and you can’t be picky about your options.

The lack of tequila was hardly her largest worry, but it was the easiest one to contemplate as she nursed her disgusting drink and tried not to contemplate anything at all. Wasn’t that what bars were for anyways? Not thinking? Forgetting? Being miserable?

“Bad day?”

Skye barely bothered to glance over at the handsome blonde sitting to her left.

“Bad year.” She said curtly, downing her drink in one and pushing it towards the far end of the counter to be refilled.

“That’s on me,” the blonde said as the bartender refilled the drink. Skye scowled, pushing a credit across the counter. The bartender shrugged at the blonde and accepted Skye’s money. At least they weren’t picky here.

“I know who you are.” Skye said, because it had clicked, the blonde hair, the flirting, the smile that was so charming it probably knocked some people straight out, “and to be honest, I’m not interested in getting mixed up in your crap.”

James Tiberius Kirk laughed. It wasn’t unkind or condescending somehow. Skye still glared.

“I can’t exactly blame you.” Kirk said, “To be honest, I don’t want to be mixed up in all of my crap either.”

“So you’re drinking away your sorrows?”

“Something like that.” Kirk agreed.

“You’ve never heard of something called tequila, have you?” Skye asked, figuring it was worth a shot.

“No. What is it?”

“The best goddamn drink in the universe.”

Kirk laughed again.

“Is there a reason you’re trying to drink away your sorrows?”

“Are we really doing this? You’ve known me for two minutes. You don’t even know my name.”

“What’s your name?”

Skye looked at him again, actually properly looked. Sharp blue eyes, tousled blonde hair that probably looked a lot neater on duty, amber liquid filled three quarters of the way full. Clearly, he also had something to drink for.

“I’ll make you a deal.” She said, turning on her stool to face him, “Question for question. Passes acceptable in exchange for a refill.”

“You have yourself a deal.” Kirk said, holding up his glass. Skye clinked hers and downed it.

“What’s your name?” Kirk repeated.

“Skye Johnson. Why is your glass full?”

“Because I have high alcohol tolerance.” He answered swiftly.

Skye turned back towards the bar with her now empty glass.

“Refill’s on him.”

“Hey!”

“Lies count as passes.” She said, accepting the glass back and taking a hearty sip.

Kirk blinked in surprise, but grinned a split second later and slid a few credits to the bartender.

“What’s your specialty?”

“Cultural awareness.”

“Remember that lies count as passes, Johnson.” He said with a smirk. Skye slid her Starfleet ID across the bar at him in response. His eyebrows lifted in surprise, but he slid it back without another word.

“Wondering how I managed to pass Diplomatic Relations?”

“Yes. And that counts as a question. How did you pass diplomatic relations?”

“I didn’t. How did you get that scar on your neck?”

“Fencing with Alteans on Marxus Prime.” He said, already sliding more credits to the barmaid, “How did you get this far without passing diplomatic relations?”

“Everyone died while I was on academic probation for failing Diplomatic Relations three times, and they couldn’t afford to be picky after that. How old are you?”

“Twenty-five.” He said, making no attempt to give up any money, “What ship were you supposed to be assigned to?”

“ _ Palaxis _ .” Skye said. Kirk winced.  _ Palaxis _ didn’t have many survivors.

“Is it true you’re taking command of the  _ Enterprise _ ?”

“Yes. How many of your friends made it out?”

Skye glanced up at him. On the surface it seemed like a cheap shot, but he seemed genuinely concerned. Skye gave the bartender money anyways.

“Is it true that one of your crew members figured out how to teleport while in warp speed?”

“Yeah. Pretty crazy right?” Skye grinned and he rolled his eyes, realizing that by his own rules he had wasted a question.

“Very crazy. How did you get dog fur on your shirt?”

Kirk glanced down, pinching his regulation blacks at the end and pulling the shirt out so he could see. Upon realizing the dog fur was obvious, he sighed.

“I train beagle puppies.”

Skye couldn’t help the snort that escaped her, trying to imagine James Tiberius Kirk, star jewel of Starfleet, trying to wrangle a bunch of puppies in line. Even if it was a lie it was an excellent mental image.

“They’re very cute, you should come with me sometime. If you like dogs.”

He was careful to phrase it as a statement, not a question, but this was information Skye was happy to give up.

“I love dogs.”

“Good. If you didn’t like dogs, I wasn’t sure we could be friends.” Kirk said, seemingly very seriously, though the twinkle in his eye betrayed him.

“Are we friends now?” Skye couldn’t help the small smile that was creeping up her face.

“I think so. I told you that I train beagle puppies, so any chance of you walking away and still thinking I’m a badass are slim to none.”

“Is that what you expect out of people? Friendship or reverence and nothing in between?”

Kirk shrugged.

“Sometimes people try to kill me. But I try to avoid those people at all costs.”

“Good plan.”

***

Someone was knocking at the door. Loudly. Without ceasing. Skye groaned.

“Can you get that?” Skye groaned.

“I can’t walk, remember? You get it.” Emma grumbled, turning the other way and taking the covers with her.

Skye sat up, glancing at her girlfriend and trying to judge if she was actually angry at Skye’s momentary lapse of memory, or if she was just milking it. Probably just milking it, but best not to push it. Another few raps at the door got Skye out of bed.

“I’m coming!” She shouted, pulling on a sweatshirt before she opened the front door.

James Tiberius Kirk stood there, holding a wiggling ball of fur that Skye could only assume was a beagle puppy.

“Surprise.” He said, holding out the beagle puppy. Skye accepted without thinking, and the dog jumped up and licked her face.

“Why…” Skye blinked, trying formulate a coherent thought, “Why are you here at 4:00 in the morning with a beagle puppy.”

“It’s training time. Thought you might want to come along.”

“And you brought the dog…”

“To convince you.” Kirk said without a hint of guilt. Skye looked down at the puppy. It licked her nose.

“I might be convinced.” She admitted, hefting the puppy closer to her chest and cradling it like she might a baby, “Come inside while I get changed.”

“Buy me dinner first Johnson.” He quipped, but entered the apartment anyways.

“What’s this about dinner?” Emma asked, rolling into the main room in her chair before halting to access the scene in front of her. Skye wasn’t sure if she was more surprised about the dog, or the fact that Jim Kirk was standing in their living room at four in the morning.

“Kirk is sorry he woke you up. Here’s a dog.” Skye said, dumping the puppy in Emma’s lap and making her way to the bedroom to change her clothes.

When she came out, they were laughing. The previously hyperactive beagle puppy was laying very contentedly on Emma’s lap, where she petted it absentmindedly.

“There you are! Ready to go?” Kirk said cheerfully.

“Yeah. Will you be okay if I go out for a bit?” She asked Emma. Emma rolled her eyes.

“I’m not a china doll babe. Please, go make friends with dogs. Molly and I will be fine.”

“Molly?”

“I’m stealing your dog, Kirk.”

Kirk just nodded solemnly.

“I’m stealing your girlfriend, so it’s a fair trade.”

“Hey!” Skye protested, but nobody paid any attention.

“We’ll have to work on the name though.” Kirk mused.

“Molly likes her name, I’ll have you know.” Emma said, and Molly licked her hand, seemingly in agreement, “Please get out of here so I can play with this dog in peace.”

Neither of them spoke until they had been walking for about five minutes.

“Was Emma on  _ Palaxis _ ?” Kirk asked. There was no game, no exchange of alcohol for lies. Skye told the truth anyways.

“Yeah. They always forget to mention that the sole conscious survivor got her legs blown off.” She tried to say it impassively, offhand, but the bitterness leaked into her voice anyways. No wonder she kept flunking DR.

“They have prosthetics and stuff though, right?”

He seemed genuinely concerned, forehead scrunched, eyebrows knit together.

“Yeah. They do. But the physical therapy is brutal, and sometimes the chair is just easier.”

Kirk nodded.

“Makes sense.”

They were silent again for a few minutes.

“Why did you go into cultural relations if you hate diplomacy?” He asked. The question must have been bugging him since that night at the bar.

“It’s not that I hate it, per say. I’m just extremely bad at it. I’m good at the other parts though.”

“Sociology and all that?”

“Yeah. And recognizing species, speaking the language, reading and writing, archeology. The dress, the customs, contract law, all that stuff I passed without a problem.”

“Just the actual diplomacy is an issue.”

“Right. Of course, since that’s a major part of the job description, I’ll never see the inside of a Starship.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm what?”   
“Well, did they  _ tell  _ you that you aren’t allowed a Starship assignment?”

“I’m not cleared for any missions with diplomatic elements, which means all the missions anyone would need a cultural officer for. Thus, no Starships. Why are you making that face?” 

“I’m thinking. Do you  _ want _ to be on a Starship?”

Skye didn’t mean to hesitate. The answer to the posed question was simple enough, but it didn’t matter what she wanted. She couldn’t. And not just because the ‘fleet wouldn’t let her.

“Yeah. I do. But it doesn’t matter.”

He didn’t offer a response. Skye changed the subject.

“Where exactly are the dogs?”

Skye hadn’t even been paying attention to the direction they were walking until now. The buildings were starting to get nicer and larger.

“In Admiral Pike’s backyard.”

“Are you joking?”

“Nope.” Kirk said cheerfully, leading her down a path that cut through several yards and more than a few fences. They ended up in an open expanse with a small house-like structure pushed off to one side. And inside-

“Puppies!”

Skye couldn’t stop the exclamation of joy that escaped her lips at the sight of them, small and floppy and excited, rolling and jumping in their excitement to see Kirk. They were all just as cute as Molly, and this time there were about ten of them. A hoard of them surrounded Kirk, but a few stragglers made their way over to Skye instead. She tried to keep the cooing to a minimum, but it was hard.

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Kirk said, separating himself from the puppies, “Time to get you guys in shape.”

“What are we training them for?” Skye asked, standing up but not completely detangling herself from the dogs.

“They’re gonna be therapy dogs.”

“Ohhh.”

It turned out training puppies was hard work, since they were more interested in passing birds and each other than sit and stay. But by the end of an hour they had a few of the basics down. They were mostly just playing with the dogs now, letting them crawl all over them.

“I might be able to convince Pike to let Emma keep Molly, after she has a bit more training.” Kirk said. He was lying with his back flat on the ground, letting Cooper stand on his chest. Cooper pawed at the Starfleet insignia on Kirk’s shirt.

“Really?” Skye asked. She was sitting with her back propped against the doghouse, petting two dogs, one with each hand.

“If she wants her.”

“She would. She definitely would.” Skye said, thinking of this morning and her girlfriend’s actual genuine smile.

“Good. I’ll make it happen.”

It probably would have sounded more impressive if Cooper hadn’t licked Kirk’s mouth right as he was saying it. They were quiet for a few minutes as Kirk wiped his tongue on his shirt and Skye tried not to laugh audibly. 

“You know,” Kirk said, propping himself upright, “I’m missing a third.”

Skye glanced over at him. He was petting Cooper with an odd fixation.

“Mr. Popular missing a third in command? How on Earth could that be.” She didn’t mean it to come out with an edge, but then again, she’d failed DR for a reason. 

“Well, I was going to have Bones do it, but he refused.”

“Bones?”

Kirk waved his hand dismissively.

“Dr. McCoy, but he’s a drama queen so Bones fits him better.”

“Why didn’t he want it?”

“It’s probably the worst job on the ship, since you do all the work and get none of the praise, and you get shitty hours because someone has to be in charge when the Captain and First are sleeping. The only consolation is the fact that you outrank almost everyone. But Bones already has the medical override so it’s no fun for him, which is why he won’t do it.”

“I see.” Skye said, starting to wonder why he had brought this up in the first place.

“Some members of my bridge crew are qualified, but I need them handy when we’re flying.” Kirk continued, seemingly oblivious to Skye’s response, “Scotty could do it, but he’d rather muck around in engineering than deal with the politics of it all.”

He glanced up at her suddenly, bright blue eyes suddenly focused on her like a laser beam.

“How’d you do on the Kobiashi Maru?”

“Failed it like everyone else.” Skye said, blinking at the abrupt change of subject.

“How long did you last?” Kirk prompted intently.

“Three hours.” 

Kirk smiled, and Skye wasn’t quite sure she liked it. Then his focus on her dissolved and he went back to petting Cooper.

“Why do you ask?”

Kirk shrugged.

“Just curious.”

Skye had the distinct feeling that that was entirely untrue.

***

Admiral Pike looked down at the PADD, then up at Kirk, then back down at the PADD.

“You want Johnson?”

Kirk grinned, charming as ever.

“Yes sir.”

“Nobody wants Johnson.”

“I want Johnson.”

“Did you miss the part of her file that mentions that she failed Diplomatic Relations three times?” Pike asked, though he knew of course, that Kirk had not. It was probably a key part in another one of his hair-brained schemes.

“Well, that’s the thing sir,” Kirk started, and Pike sighed, knowing he was in for a long one, “She only failed the oral demonstration part of DR. In the theory based section of the exam, she got nearly a perfect score all three times.”

“Theory’s no good if you can’t apply it in practice.”

“Maybe she doesn’t need to be the one applying it.”

Pike closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What are you suggesting, Captain.”

“She’s brilliant, sir. I mean look at all her other scores from other classes. They’re nearly perfect! She knows just about every alien custom and language and history that we know about, and then some. So what if she’s a little rough around the edges?”

“Kirk.” Pike said, “She nearly punched her examiner in the face. During a  _ simulation _ . Putting her in any sort of actual diplomatic context would be disastrous.”

“Sir, do you trust me?”

“Do I trust you not to make an intergalactic incident? No.”

“Sir!” Kirk said, looking hurt, or at least feigning it well, “I would never.”

“She might.” Pike argued, “Which is why she’s not cleared for any missions with diplomatic elements.”

“Okay, but hear me out first.”

By the time Kirk was done explaining his master plan, Pike had a raging migraine. But he had to admit, it was smart. And nobody else would take Johnson. And they were running low on Cultural officers.

“Fine.” Pike sighed, and Kirk did a small fist-pump to himself, “Just don’t make me regret this.”

“You won’t regret it! Thank you sir!” Kirk jumped up, halfway out the door before Pike could change his mind.

“I’m going to regret this.” Pike grumbled to himself. Kirk was going to be the end of him.

***

The  _ Enterprise _ . The freaking  _ Enterprise _ .

Of course. Of course her assignment was the  _ Enterprise _ . Of course Kirk had managed to charm and scheme his way into getting her a spot on board. And not just a spot, freaking  _ Commanding Cultural Officer _ . Fucking third in command. How the ever-living  _ fuck _ he had managed that, Skye had no idea.

Jesus. The  _ Enterprise _ .

She couldn’t take it. Emma needed her here, and she was shit at diplomacy anyways. One mission would turn into ten missions would turn into a five year mission, assuming Skye didn’t start an intergalactic conflict somehow. Skye couldn’t just screw around in space while Emma was stuck here. She would request a transfer. Get some dinky job in the archives or something. Stay on base to be with Emma. It would be better that way.

“Open it!”

Emma burst in the room unexpectedly, Molly bounding along behind her, and Skye barely closed the message in time.

“I already did. On-base assignment in the archives.” The lie slipped out far too easily for comfort.

For a split-second, Emma looked surprised. Then she smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes.

“That’s not bad.”

“It’s good. No crazy dangerous missions, or being away for a while.”

“Yeah.” Emma agreed, but she was frowning now.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I have to ah, do some therapy stuff. I’ll be back.”

“Alright. I’ll make dinner.”

“Thanks.” Emma said, but it was distracted. She left, knocking the door shut behind her. Molly, who had managed to jump onto the bed in the meantime looked up at Skye, confused.

“Me too girl.” Skye said, scratching her ears, “Me too.”

***

Emma found Captain Kirk in the mess hall, making himself a plate of food that was about a foot higher than it probably should be. She rammed her chair into his knee.

“Hey!” Kirk nearly dropped his food, but managed to save it from toppling, “What was that for!”

“You said you would get her on the  _ Enterprise _ !”

“I did!” Kirk said defensively.

“Then why does she have an archives assignment?”

“She doesn’t! I promise, look.” Kirk did some rapid typing and handed her his PADD. Skye’s assignment, Commanding Cultural Officer aboard the  _ USS Enterprise _ . As promised, and then some.

“I’m going to kick her ass.” Emma said calmly, handing the PADD back to Kirk, “Sorry about your knee.”

“It’s fine.” Kirk said, but Emma was already wheeling away. Skye was in a lot of trouble.

***

Emma looked pissed.

She normally looked somewhere between annoyed and angry when she came back from PT, but this was a whole different level. Skye scooped up Molly for self-defense. She wasn’t above using the dog as a shield between her and her girlfriend.

“Give me Molly.” Emma said, as soon as she rolled in the kitchen. Skye hugged the dog tighter.

“Why?”

“Because if I don’t have something to calm me down I may actually strangle you.”

Skye set Molly down on the floor. She ran over to Emma and hopped onto her lap right away. Emma started petting her, and Skye was immediately reminded of the old-Earth image of an evil villain sitting in their throne, stroking a cat and planning someone’s demise. Only, this time it was her girlfriend in her wheelchair with her therapy dog about to verbally destroy her.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got assigned the  _ Enterprise _ ?”

Skye stared.

“How did you-“

“Kirk told me. He let me know ahead of time, actually. So imagine my surprise when I find out that you got an on-base archive assignment instead of Commanding Cultural Officer.”

“I-“ Skye faltered, unable to come up with a defense for herself, “I was going to request a transfer tomorrow.”

“Why would you  _ do _ that!” Emma said, dangerously close to a yell.

“Because!” Skye snapped, “I can’t leave you here!”

She regretted it immediately, even before Emma’s eyebrows shot up to her forehead.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” She said, but the damage was done.

“You don’t have to take care of me. You don’t get to act like I’m some ball and chain that you can’t escape from. You don’t get to use me as an excuse, Skye.” The words were precise, calm, but there was a level of anger bubbling underneath the words that was impossible to ignore.

“As an excuse for what?” Skye snapped.

“For your stupid guilt complex!”

“I don’t have a guilt complex!”

“Of course you have a guilt complex! All our friends died, Skye! I got my legs blown off! You weren’t there! Just fucking deal with it and move on!”

“How am I supposed to just deal with that!”

“I don’t know, figure it out! But stop blaming my stupid stumps for all your issues!”

Emma wheeled out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her as she went.

***

Skye had made herself comfortable on the couch. It wasn’t a bad couch, really. A little lumpy in spots, but overall, not terrible. The used to have a system where they alternated who took the couch and who took the bed after their fights. Not that they fought very much, but they were both stubborn beyond belief. Of course, all that ended after Nero. Emma got the bed every time now.

She’d just settled down to sleep when Molly came trotting over.

“Hey girl. Shouldn’t you be with your mommy?” Skye said, scratching her ears and picking her up to set on her stomach. Molly curled up there easily, making a little crinkling sound as she did so. Skye frowned. After a few seconds of feeling around her collar, she came back with a little note, scrawled in Emma’s loopy handwriting.

_ Come to bed? _

Skye scooped up Molly, walking over to the bedroom and knocking on the door lightly before stepping inside. The room was lit from a lamp on Emma’s side, giving off a golden glow, and Emma was lying on the bed, face hidden in shadow. Skye let Molly onto the bed first, just in case. She snuggled up next to Emma automatically.

“I wasn’t sure you would come.” Emma said, propping herself up slightly. The lamp light seemed to emphasize the guilt etched on her face.

“It’s hard to say no to Molly.” Skye said lightly, laying down on her side, facing her girlfriend.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

They laid there in silence for a minute.

“I’m sorry. For accusing you of using my non-existent legs as an excuse to avoid dealing with your trauma.” Emma said finally. It sounded rehearsed. Knowing Emma, it probably was.

“I’m sorry for sometimes using your non-existent legs as an excuse to avoid dealing with my shit.”

The both didn’t speak for another minute.

“Are you going to take the  _ Enterprise _ assignment?”

Skye focused on petting Molly, trying to formulate an answer.

“I don’t know. I want it. I know I want it.”

“Then you should do it.”

“Em, the only reason I got this job is because everyone more qualified is dead.”

“That’s not true and you know it. You’d be amazing at the job.”

“That’s not the point. The only reason I’m even alive is because I failed stupid DR three times.”

“So, what? You wish you had passed so you could be dead or mutilated too?” There wasn’t any heat behind the words, just tiredness, a cold aching exhaustion.

“No. Maybe. I don’t know. I just know I can’t leave. I can’t  _ not _ be with you- and it’s not about your legs, not really,” she added quickly, as Emma started to open her mouth, “It’s just that- what if something happens, and I’m not here again? What if- if there’s more red matter or something and I’m too busy dicking around in space to not be with you? How am I supposed to be there for you if I’m 12 million light years away on some stupid mission?”

Emma sighed. She ran her dark hands through Skye’s bright hair, pushing it behind her ear tenderly.

“Look.” She said, resting her hand on Skye’s cheek, “I know the fact that you weren’t there eats you alive everyday. I know that it’s painful to have people die and hurt and not being able to do anything about it.” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“But I am  _ so glad _ you weren’t there. I am  _ so glad _ that you’re alive, and that you have all your legs and arms and that you’re not in a coma or a full-body cast. And if something else happens, here, I will be so glad that you’re too busy dicking around in space to do anything about it.” She reached out, calloused fingers brushing Skye’s cheek, wiping away tears that shouldn’t even be there, it was stupid to be crying about this, crying about being alive and unharmed but she couldn’t seem to stop, and soon she was choking on the tears as pointless sobs wracked her body. Emma pulled her closer, cradling her until it finally stopped. Molly squirmed between them, licking the tears off her face and making them both laugh, albeit a little shakily.

“This is stupid. I shouldn’t be the one crying.” Skye said. Their foreheads were touching now. If Emma still had legs they would be tangled with Skye’s, and Skye would be lying if she didn’t miss it, not knowing where her body stopped and Emma’s began. Now it was all too easy to tell.

“Just because you weren’t there doesn’t mean you didn’t get hurt. There’s more than one kind of pain, you know.”

“Yeah. I know.”

***

“It’s just a quick mission. We’ll be back-“

“In a week, I know. Relax. Molly and I will be fine, won’t we Molly?”

Molly wagged her tail energetically in response, perking at the sound of her name.

“Ohhh, I’m gonna miss you girl.” Skye said, scratching Molly behind the ears and pressing their noses together. Molly licked her and she giggled.

“What am I, burnt toast?” Emma said jokingly.

In response, Skye knelt in front of the chair, pulled Emma’s face closer to hers and kissed her. It was gentle at first, but they both knew they might not see each other for longer than a week. Starfleet missions were notoriously bad at keeping on schedule.

“I changed my mind.” Emma said breathlessly when Skye finally pulled away, “You should transfer to that archive job.”

Skye laughed and kissed her again, quickly this time.

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You better be.”

There was a knock at the door, and Skye stood up grudgingly.

“It’s probably Kirk.”

He’d promised to take her to the  _ Enterprise _ and introduce her to the rest of the crew. She was the odd one out, the only one who hadn’t served on the Nero mission. Kirk had tried to get her to go to their Thursday night drinks, but Thursday’s were Emma’s hardest PT days, and Skye didn’t want to skip out.

Skye grabbed her bag of personal effects and opened the door.

“Ready to go?” Kirk asked. He was either extremely excited or extremely caffeinated, either way he was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Yup.” Skye said, hefting her bag over her shoulder.

“Bye Emma! Bye Molly!” Kirk called. He was met with a shout and a bark.

“That’s about all you’re going to get from them.” Skye said, walking outside and closing the door behind her. It was still dark out- the ship was leaving early.

“Excited?”

“Nervous.” Skye admitted.

“Ah, don’t be. Everyone already loves you.”

Skye glanced at him suspiciously.

“What did you do?”

“Why do you assume I did something?”

Skye narrowed her eyes.

“I showed them the tape of your DR oral exam.” Kirk admitted, and Skye swung her bag at him.

“Kirk!”

“In my defense, it makes you really likable.”

“God. Which one?”

“The first one.”

“That’s the worst one!”

“It’s only the worst one if you’re measuring by how badly you failed. If you’re measuring by how quickly you lose it and start tearing the instructor a new one, it’s the best one.” Kirk said cheerfully.

“I hate you. So much.”

“Ah, c’mon. At least I didn’t show them the second one.”

Skye winced.

She shouldn’t have been so worried. Kirk was right- the video really did help her win over the crew. It seemed as though every person they passed on their way to the bridge had seen it.

“Hikaru Sulu,” a grinning flight coordinator said, shaking her hand, “I particularly enjoyed the part where you told Admiral Pearl that he was a misogynistic uncultured swine.”

“Oh! Me too!” A tiny boy with a thick Russian accent said, running up behind Sulu. He couldn’t be older than 17.

“I am Chekov! Pavel Chekov.” He said, shaking her hand vigorously.

Thirty seconds later they ran into a communications officer who introduced herself as Uhura.

“The switch to Dhanix at the end was a nice touch.”

In the lift, Skye met Dr. Leonard McCoy who Kirk insisted on calling Bones for some reason. He was the first to not mention the video, but he still had something to say.

“Is your girlfriend the one who gave Kirk that bruise on his knee?”

Skye looked at Kirk, alarmed.

“What did she do?”

“Ah, it was nothing. Just a misunderstanding.”

“She damn near gave him a fracture, is what he means. She must have excellent upper body strength.” Bones said, somewhat cheerfully, “Tell her to go a bit harder next time. If I can put him in a cast, I can slow him down enough to treat the 30 other things that are wrong with him.”

Skye laughed and Kirk glared.

“Traitors, the both of you.”

On the bridge, Skye finally met the elusive Spock, who complimented her on her “most logical critique of Admiral Pearl’s incorrect statements about Dhanix culture.”

“Uh, thanks.” Skye said, “I mean, I still failed, but thanks.”

Spock shook his head.

“Had Pearl possessed your level of knowledge about the Dhanix people, I believe that you would have passed with full marks.”

“Thank you.” Skye said. She knew Vulcans were emotionless, but she wasn’t entirely sure if he was fucking with her or not.

“The insults, while illogical, were also entertaining.” Spock concluded, and Kirk laughed a little too loudly. The tips of Spock’s ears went the faintest green. Maybe not so emotionless after all.

"Ready for takeoff Captain!"

Kirk finally snapped his gaze away from Spock, taking his seat in the chair with an air of professionalism Skye hadn't ever seen in him.

"Let's get going."

"Yes sir."

"As soon as you're able, would you push us into warp speed Mr. Sulu."

"Aye Captain. Entering warp speed in three... two... one..."

Sulu pushed a lever forward, and the rest of the sky seemed to stretch like taffy around them as they shot through space with impossible speed. 

Then they bumped to a stop. Skye grabbed the nearest wall to avoid falling on her ass.

"What's going on?" Kirk asked to the room at large. Then there was a jolt, and the lights went down.

Just Skye's fuckin' luck.


	2. Chapter 2

The emergency lights kicked in, casting the bridge in an eerie yellow glow.  
It took Kirk a second to realize that everyone was staring at him. Right. Captain. He was going to have to get used to that fast.  
“Why did we stop?”  
“Not sure sir.” Sulu was working frantically on the control panel in front of him.  
“Scotty, what the hell happened to our engines?”  
There was no response from the comm.  
“Ensign Carson, go down to engineering and find out why they aren’t responding.”  
“Yes sir.”  
Skye pushed herself off the wall where she had been bracing herself, making her way to the lower control panels.  
“Where are we?”  
“I’m not sure.” Sulu said. A holographic map flickered into place, and Skye examined it closely.  
“Captain,” She said, frowning and zooming in on their location, “You should take a look at this.”  
“What’s wrong?” Kirk said, already moving to the map, Spock close behind him.  
“We’re not in Federation space. This is Sxal territory.”  
Kirk glanced at Spock, trying to gage his reaction to this news. He seemed to be frowning a little bit, or maybe Kirk was imagining it. He was still figuring out how the subtle changes in Spock’s expression indicated emotion.  
“We need to move immediately.” Spock said. His voice remained it’s usual monotone, though there was an air of urgency about them.  
“I agree.” Skye said, biting her lip. Her face had gone a little white, but she had a determined expression.  
“Who are the Sxal?” Kirk asked. He felt a little bit stupid for asking; it felt like something he should know, especially the way Skye and Spock were reacting, though the rest of the crew looked about as confused as he was.  
“They occupy the planet system in this area, and they’re not huge fans of the Federation.” Skye explained, “They’re resource rich in metals and gasses, but are missing a lot of essentials, so they rely heavily on trade.”  
“Which poses two problems.” Spock added, looking at Kirk, dark brown eyes unflinching.  
“First, we are in busy, unregulated airspace. The chances that another ship will run into us at warp speed is approximately 76.3% above average.”  
“So we’re a sitting duck. Great.”  
Spock almost frowned.  
“I fail to see how we are a ‘duck’, as you say.”  
As dire as the situation was, it was hard not to laugh at the look on Spock’s face. He couldn’t keep his brow from furrowing just a tiny bit in confusion at the comparison, causing his face to scrunch together uncharacteristically. If Spock wasn’t his first officer he might think it was adorable.  
“It just means we’re a target. Kind of helpless.”  
“I see.” Spock said, though it didn’t seem like he did. Kirk would normally explain further, but now wasn’t really the time to go into colloquialisms.  
“What’s the other issue?”  
“Pirates.” Skye said. Her jaw was clenched.  
Kirk closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose with one hand.  
“Wonderful. Does anyone know why we stopped yet?”  
“Carson isn’t back from engineering.” someone said, just as Carson burst from the turbolift onto the bridge, panting. He must have sprinted all the way back.  
“Someone’s shut down everything- all- all of our systems are fried. Mr. Scott is trying to reboot it to jumpstart the engines.”  
“How long is that going to take?” Skye asked worriedly.  
Before Carson had a chance to respond, Sulu cleared his throat.  
“We uh- we might have a problem.”  
Kirk looked at Sulu, who was looking out the window. Kirk turned.  
A large ship was creeping towards them. Even this far away it was clear that it dwarfed the _Enterprise_ in terms of size. At first Kirk thought it was just a floating black orb, but as it inched closer he could see harsh edges forming a triangle around the sphere section. All the light around it seemed to be absorbed by the impossibly black color of the metal that it was made of. The pace worried Kirk. It was too slow, almost lazy. It seemed to be saying _”We don’t even have to try”_ , which of course, it didn’t. If they were the duck, this ship was the hunter about to pick them off without a fight.  
“How long Carson?” said Kirk, steadily. The worst thing to do now would be to panic and scare the crew.  
“They said at least twenty minutes.”  
“In two minutes they’ll be in our path of flight. We won’t be able to warp out without hitting them.”  
“Hail them.” Kirk said. He’d think of something on the fly, he always did, he could stall them-  
For what? Twenty minutes? There was no way. But maybe long enough to think of something else.  
“Hail systems are down sir.” Said Uhura, who was frantically working on her station, to what looked like no avail.  
“Can you send a distress signal to the fed?”  
“Something’s blocking it, nothing will go through-“  
“One minute sir.”  
Kirk closed his eyes, tried to think. They had no hail, no signals, no engines, no comms. Their only assets were emergency lights, the GPS system, and about 45 seconds.  
Ideas flashed through his head, each worse than the last, and no time to execute any of them. He could feel his crew’s eyes on him, waiting for him to do something, say something, enlighten them with his brilliant, crazy plan that would get them out of this impossible situation. But he didn’t have one.  
And then it happened.  
The ship stopped, just out of their flightpath.  
It hovered there, like it was waiting for something to happen.  
_”Your move.”_ it seemed to say.  
“Do either of you have any idea what type of ship that is?” Kirk asked his Second and Third quietly- If it was bad news he didn’t want the Bridge crew to hear just yet.  
“I do not know.” Spock said regretfully, “I have never come across a comparable design.”  
They looked at Skye hopefully, but she gave her head a tiny shake.  
“I’ve never seen a ship like that before.”  
Then she paused, frowned.  
“It looks… I don’t know. Not quite familiar.”  
Before Kirk could ask what she meant by that, the regular lights shuddered on, and Kirk blinked at the sudden brightness. The comm clicked,  
“Captain?” Scotty said, and Kirk had never been more relieved to hear his voice.  
“What’s your status Mr. Scott?”  
“We’ve got basic systems back online, but the engines…” his voice trailed worryingly.  
“Whatever’s wrong, fix it. We need to get out of here, fast.” Kirk said, glancing out the window. The black ship was unmoving.  
“Give me five minutes and the boy genius.”  
Kirk nodded at Chekov, who scurried away to engineering.  
“Mr. Sulu, calculate a flight pattern to the nearest patch of Federation Airspace.”  
“Aye Captain.” Sulu dragged his eyes away from the window and began to work. Another pilot slid into Chekov’s abandoned seat and started to help. Kirk took his seat in the Captain’s chair, Spock standing behind him. Kirk met eyes with him. There was tenseness about him, his shoulders too tight, his hands clenched behind his back just a little too hard. He was worried, and doing his best not to show it.  
The minutes ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace. The tension on the bridge was palpable. The ship outside didn’t move. It just hovered there. Waiting.  
Finally the comm clicked, and everyone let out a breath they hadn’t known they were holding.  
“We’ve got enough put together for a quick jump, but I need to inspect our equipment before we do anything more drastic.”  
“We’re jumping now.” Kirk said, sweet relief flooding through him as he signaled to Sulu, who started prepping for the jump.  
“Jumping in three, two, one-“  
The _Enterprise_ hurtled itself forward into warp speed, blowing past the black ship easily, stopping in a quiet, deserted patch of Federation space. The tension on the bridge melted away. Someone gave a “whoop!” and everyone laughed, and then remembered what had just happened and stopped laughing. Kirk couldn’t help but smile even as anxiety settled in his stomach. What the hell _had_ just happened?

***

Skye did not like the captains chair.

It felt wrong, strange, like she was invading Kirk’s personal space. She knew it was her job to be sitting there, and Kirk needed her there while he and Spock called the Fed to tell them what had happened, and they were just sitting in a friendly patch of space, waiting for Scotty to finish checking their systems. But the lack of action gave her too much time to think.

Why had they had to stop  _ there _ .

Of all the places for the  _ Enterprise _ to be trapped in the wide expanse of space they were hurtling through, why,  _ why _ did they stop in Sxal territory?

She was overreacting. It was just a coincidence, and barely even that. They were millions-  _ hundreds _ of millions of miles away. It was a large star system in a large territory. Thinking that it had anything to do with her would be borderline narcissistic.

But still- maybe she should tell Kirk. Maybe…

No. No, she couldn’t unload all that on him now, not when everything had just gone so wrong. She could tell he was already stressed, he’d done a good job at keeping up an appearance of being calm and in control, but he’d looked a little anxious when he left the bridge. And the desperation in his voice when he’d asked her and Spock, quietly, if they recognized the ship… sometimes it was easy to forget that Kirk was barely a year older than her, and that he’d never actually captained a ship before in normal circumstances. He had an air of leadership about him, and of course the Jim Kirk patented charm and charisma and unexpected brilliance had never let him down before. But sometimes you can’t charm your way out of something. If the ship hadn’t stopped moving on it’s own, what would Kirk have done? It hadn’t just been the flightpath, if their systems were online they could have turned around and gone back the other direction. The fact that they couldn’t move at all, couldn’t defend themselves against an attack, couldn’t even fire back was more worrying to Skye. She had no doubt that it could have blown them to bits, or boarded their ship and taken what they’d wanted. But it had let them go. Why had it let them go?

There was always the possibility that it hadn’t been the one that had stopped them, that it was just a passive observer, wondering how a Federation ship ended up in Sxal territory. But if they were hanging out in Sxal territory they were almost certainly unsavory characters, to put it nicely. And if that ship hadn’t stopped them, who had?

The turbolift opened, interrupting her thoughts. Kirk and Spock stepped out. They looked like they had been discussing something, though they clammed up as soon as the Bridge crew was in earshot. Skye exited the chair swiftly, and she noticed a few members of the crew were getting up as well.

“Uneventful, I’m hoping?” Kirk asked with a small smile, taking his seat in the chair. He looked better than when he had left the bridge earlier, back to his normal chipper self. Spock stood behind him dutifully, expressionless as ever.

“Thankfully.” Skye said, “Any word from the brass?”

Kirk grimaced, and Spock’s eyes flicked to the Captain. Skye was ridiculously glad she hadn’t had to sit in on that holo call, because from the looks of it it hadn’t gone well.

“They want us to finish the mission. We’ll be late dropping those supplies, but they should be able to hold out until we get there.”

Skye made a mental note to call Emma with an update.

“What about the engines?”

“Scotty think’s they’ll be up and running in an hour or two. He can’t find anything  _ wrong _ with them, so there’s not much to fix. Rebooting just takes a while.” Kirk sighed, “Until then we’re stuck here, so you might as well take a lunch break.”

Skye decided to take him up on that. She’d lost track of time, but it had been at least a few hours since they left Sxal, and she’d gotten hungry without realizing it.

“Going to lunch?” The communications officer, Uhura, Skye remembered, asked. They had gotten in the same turbolift.

“If I can remember where the mess is.” Skye said, only half joking. Uhura laughed anyways, which Skye thought was kind of her.

“Come eat with me. I can show you the good replicator.”

“Thanks.” Skye said, trying not to sound embarrassingly grateful. Uhura brushed it off easily.

“You’re really doing me a favor, the boys are all stuck on the bridge so I’d be alone anyways. It’s Skye, right? Or would you rather go by something else on duty? Kirk’s told me a lot about you, but I don’t want to overstep my bounds.”

“Oh.” Skye said, surprised. She hadn’t even really thought of it, but she had realized most people went by their last names on the ship. She figured it was to bridge the gap between ranks, keep it appropriately formal while not completely detached, but Johnson was kind of a mouthful for ordinary conversation.

“Skye is fine. You go by Uhura, right?”

“That’s right!” Uhura said cheerfully, seemingly unbothered by the fact that Skye outranked her. Skye was grateful for that. As much as Kirk had said this was an undesirable position, she couldn’t help but feel like she had swiped a promotion out from under someone more qualified, like Uhura. But as far as Skye could tell, Uhura held no resentment towards her.

Skye followed Uhura to the mess, where she showed her a replicator tucked in an obscure corner which she swore made the best pasta on the whole ship. Plates loaded, they made their way to an empty table and sat down.

“So,” Uhura said, leaning in a little as if to keep the conversation private, even though the mess was so crowded Skye could barely hear Uhura sitting right across from her.

“That thing this morning was crazy.”

“It was so odd.” Skye agreed, “It freaked me out a little, if I’m honest.”

“Me too.” Uhura said, picking at her food, “I just felt so  _ helpless _ . None of my equipment was working at all. Who even has that kind of tech? To shut us all the way down?”

Skye grimaced.

“If someone’s got the means to do it and we didn’t know about it, Sxal’s the place it would be.”

“Do you know much about that territory? All I remember is that it doesn’t have a common language, so that’s not very helpful at all.”

_ ”Yes” _ Skye thought,  _ ”I do know a lot about that territory. Probably more than anyone in the ‘fleet.” _

She didn’t say that though.

“It’s kind of a melting pot. The Sxal only occupy a few planets in the system, the rest have been colonized pretty heavily. It’s a refuge for people who aren’t huge fans of the Federation, and for people the Federation aren’t huge fans of.”

“In other words, the worst possible place we could’ve stopped.” Uhura concluded. Skye nodded in agreement, taking a bite of her food.

“Oh my god.” She said, temporarily distracted by the meal, “This is so good.”

Replicator food almost always tasted off to Skye, like it had gone just a little bit bad. She’d had worse, of course, and she wasn’t one to complain, but this pasta was actually  _ good _ . Actually cheesy, and no weird metallic aftertaste at all.

“Told ya.” Uhura said smugly, taking a bite herself. The smile quickly melted off her face, replaced by a frown.

“What I can’t wrap my head around is why that ship let us go. If that place is as bad as you say-“

“It is.” Skye said firmly, at the same time as she thought to herself,  _ ”It’s worse.” _ . But she didn’t say that.

“Right.” Uhura said, unaware of Skye’s mental interjection, “That ship could have outpaced us easily. They could have boarded or blown us up way before Scotty got even the basic systems back online. Why didn’t they?”

“It doesn’t make any sense. I couldn’t even figure out what type of ship it was.” Skye said miserably. She’d been wracking her brain trying to figure out why it had looked familiar, but she couldn’t think of anything that even remotely resembled the mystery ship.

“Why stop us in the first place? It’s just- ugh.” Uhura stabbed her pasta with a little more force than strictly necessary.

“I asked Kirk what the admiralty has to say, but he just said we’ve got orders to finish the mission, nothing else.”

“Poor Jim,” Uhura sighed, “What a disaster on his first real day. I’m just glad nobody got hurt, that would have been a full-on nightmare.”

“True.” Skye said. She was also glad they hadn’t been blown out of the sky, but she figured that had been implied.

They ate in compatible silence for a few minutes, enjoying the magical pasta, and trying not to think about the incident that morning. Skye didn’t know about Uhura, but she failed spectacularly at the second part.

“I better get back to the bridge.” Uhura said. She sounded sad to go, which Skye appreciated. Despite the dower topic of conversation, it had been nice to talk to someone on the crew.

“I’m going to the library. I have some research to do, and If Kirk and Spock are both up there they probably don’t need me as well.”

“Well, it was nice chatting with you anyways.” Uhura smiled warmly at her, “Maybe next time we won’t get bogged in ship talk.”

“Hopefully not.” Skye agreed, “Thanks for showing me the magic replicator.”

“Of course. It’s our secret.” Uhura winked at her as she walked away towards the bridge. Skye turned the other direction, towards the library. She was going to find out who owned that ship if it killed her.

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one day i will proofread my chapters before i post them, but today is not that day. at least there's lesbians in this one!

The library wasn't so much a library in the traditional sense, with books and reference materials and whatnot. All of that would be terribly outdated, even for Earth, and Starfleet wasn't one to waste space or resources. The library, as it was called, was really more a collection of computers with slightly stronger processing power than the rest of the ones on board.  Still, it was ideal for research like the type Skye was doing now. Each computer was shielded in an individual soundproofed cubby, ensuring a quiet, private place to work. Skye took advantage of it. There was something familiar about that ship, she was sure of it now, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Unfortunately, despite the computer's seemingly bottomless pit of information, Skye couldn't find any reference to the design of the ship at all. It didn't help that being in Sxal territory meant any number of species or organizations or individuals could have owned the ship. 

Skye called it quits after three hours. There wasn't anything here, and searching fruitlessly through every file Starfleet had on every ship design that had ever crossed their path was only giving her a headache and an anxious twist in her stomach. Skye could pretend all she wanted, but at the end of the day, Sxal still scared the shit out of her, and she'd be lying if she said there weren't some memories that seemed desperate to resurface ever since she had laid eyes on their coordinates.

She'd repressed them just fine for a over a decade. There was no need for them to resurrect themselves now.

She had an hour before the next shift officially started. She hadn't even technically been on duty earlier, but obviously the incident had sort of  thrown her official  schedule out the window. She had intended to spend the morning familiarizing herself with the ship. The others had been on it before, albeit for a brief and hectic time, but a lot of them had also assisted in the repairs, meaning they knew their way around the ship far better than Skye did. She'd looked at maps and blueprints of course, and she thought she had a general idea of where everything was, but the hallways mostly looked the same and she had some difficulty finding her way around. She should probably use her free hour to look around some more, try and find some landmarks, but she found herself walking towards the wing where her quarters were meant to be. Due to the commotion she hadn't actually seen them yet, but she did know generally where they were. She set an alarm for 45 minutes and set off for her room in earnest.

She stopped at the end of a long hallway. Here. She double checked the room number before punching in her access code. The door slid open silently and she entered, slightly tentative. 

The room was comfortable, if a bit empty. Skye suspected it was a bit larger than average, but even smaller it would be a fine size for just one person. A small kitchenette with a replicator sat off to the side, while a bed occupied the majority of the space in the center of the room. There were two more doors, the closet and the bathroom, Skye figured. Someone had set her backpack with her allotted personal items on the bed. 

She sat down, watching the mattress sink with her weight. 

She hadn't brought much with her, just a few holos of her and Emma. She would be back planetside in less than a month, so it felt silly to bring lots of sentimental stuff. The backpack was almost empty.

She picked up her PADD and rang Emma. 

It only buzzed for a few seconds before Emma answered.

"Well that was quick." Emma said with a grin, "Missed me already?" Skye realized with a start that she'd only been gone about seven hours. It had felt like a day at least.

The smile melted off Emma's face when she saw the look on Skye's face.

"What's wrong?"

Skye explained what had happened that morning. She wasn't sure she was actually allowed to tell Emma, but rumors spread through the 'fleet faster than the Andorian plague, so Emma would have heard about it anyways soon enough. Emma's frown deepened with each detail, and by the end she had a full scowl. 

"Where were you?" 

Skye winced. She had left that bit of information out, hoping Emma wouldn't notice, but of course she had.

"Sxal." She said reluctantly.

"Oh, Skye." She breathed. Emma was the only person left Skye had told, though she'd left out some of the details. She did know enough to be worried about the  _Enterprise_  getting stuck in Sxal. 

"I know." She sighed.

"Are you alright?" Her sour expression had morphed into one of tender concern. 

"I'm fine." Skye lied. Emma didn't look convinced.

"Does Kirk know?"

"No. It doesn't matter anyways, we were millions of miles away. It didn't have anything to do with... that."

"Babe, you don't know  _what_  it had to do with." Emma said gently. She had a point, which was further validated by the fact that the ship triggered something in Skye's memory, another detail she had neglected to mention.

"Lot's of shady stuff goes down there." Skye pointed out, "I'll tell him if I think it's relevant, but he's got enough on his plate as it is." 

Emma looked like she wanted to argue, but she just bit her lip instead. Luckily, Molly chose that moment to bark excitedly, and Emma lifted the squirming puppy up onto her lap. Molly immediately bonked the screen with her nose. Skye laughed, glad for the distraction, however temporary. 

"She misses you." Emma said, pulling Molly away from her PADD, "She's been whining all day." 

"Ohh, I miss you too girl." Skye's stomach sank as she remembered the main reason she had called in the first place. Emma studied her expression carefully.

"There's something else." She decided.

"We're still trying to figure out what shut everything down, and we had to warp out of our way to get out of Sxal. It's going to be a few more days than we thought." 

"Well that's alright." Emma said, clearly relieved it wasn't something worse, "We can last a few more days, can't we Mol?" Molly licked Emma's hand in agreement, though she whined a little bit when she plopped her head down on Emma's arm.

"We'll be fine." Emma promised. 

"I know, it's just-" Skye stopped as her watch beeped, indicating she had 15 minutes left until her shift officially started. 

"You have to go." Emma guessed.

"Yeah." Skye said regretfully.

"Alright, we'll talk later. Have a good shift. I love you." 

"I love you too." 

It was very hard to hang up as Emma waved goodbye with Molly's paw, but Skye managed to do it.

***

Jim was relieved for the shift change. As captain, he was pretty much on duty all the time anyways, but now Skye could take the conn while he checked back with engineering. Spock was busy scanning the ship's code to find out what had caused their systems to shut off. Jim had been trying to fill out an incident report. 

 _Trying_  being the operative word.

He normally didn't mind paperwork, but this his head felt so scrambled about the whole thing it was taking three times as long as it should. 

 _"Please give a detailed description of the incident in question"_ was easy enough, but  _"What did command do to deescalate the situation?"_  was trickier, considering the answer was "basically nothing". Pike hadn't exactly been pleased to get his call less than an hour after they had taken off, but he'd listened and judged fairly.

Kirk remembered the frown on his face as he let them explain what had happened. 

"Did you try to contact the ship?"

"We tried, but our communication systems were down."

"What about when Mr. Scott got your basic systems back online, before you started the engines?"

Kirk had faltered. He hadn't even thought to try hailing again in the time they were waiting for the engines to start up. Spock had come to his rescue.

"The ship had stopped proceeding towards our warp path. Logically, there was no reason to engage and risk further provocation."

"Maybe, but now we have no idea who these guys are or what they want." Pike countered.

Neither Kirk or Spock had a decent response to that.

"Look," Pike had sighed, "It's not the worst thing that could have happened. The crew is safe and the ship is undamaged. Those are your top priorities."

"But?" Kirk said, sensing a "but" coming.

"But, it's not exactly a good look ten minutes into your first mission."

"Right." Kirk had said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Pike's expression had softened slightly.

"Just get this supply run done. I'll keep the vultures at bay until you get back."

Now Jim would like to do just that, but they still had't moved from their patch of nothing. Spock had sent out a shipwide memo so everyone who wasn't the bridge crew knew why they were stopped. Jim hadn't read it, but he assumed it was perfectly constructed so as to be informative without causing panic. He envied Spock's emotional detachment sometimes. It sure would come in handy for incident reports, anyways. 

The turbolift doors slid open, and Skye stepped out. She was five minutes early, but Jim was glad to see her. He turned off his PADD, leaving the incident report unfinished. He could work on it tonight. 

"Find anything useful?" He asked her. Uhura had mentioned that Skye had gone to do research in the Library. Skye shook her head regretfully.

"Nothing. I was trying to match that ship design to something, but there's nothing in the database that's even similar."

"Damn." 

"Yeah. I'll keep looking later. All quiet up here?"

"Yup. I'm going down to engineering. Hopefully we can get moving soon."

"Sounds good."

Kirk stood.

"Lt. Commander Johnson, you have the conn."

Engineering was a familiar chaos of steam and clanging and shouting. He followed the loudest yells to find Scotty and Keenser huddled over a station. Scotty was swearing up a storm until Keenser jabbed the back of his knee, pointing to Kirk. 

"-Ow, what dae ya want you littl- Oh, hey captain."

"How's it going down here?"

Scotty grimaced.

"Not entirely well, if I'm bein' honest."

"How bad?" Kirk asked, that little knot of anxiety that had been hanging out in his stomach tightening.

"It's not so much that anythin' is broken, per say," Scotty said, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "But i cannae figure out what shut us down in the first place."

"But we could move if we wanted to?" Kirk asked, the little knot loosening slightly.

"Aye." Said Scotty reluctantly. Keenser clicked nervously.

"I wouldn't recommend movin' until we know what went wrong, lest it happen again."

Kirk weighed that. The chances that they would stop again were slim, but Scotty did have a point. On the other hand, they might never  figure out what exactly had caused the problem, and they needed to finish the mission.

"We need to get moving." Kirk decided finally, "They can't wait on those supplies forever."

"Aye captain." Scotty said, only slightly reluctant.

"I'll have Sulu map a path through friendly territory only. It might take a little longer, but if we stop again it'll at least be somewhere safe."

Scotty nodded, seemingly pleased enough with this compromise.

They were moving again within the next hour, and Beta shift finished uneventfully. Skye had assured him she was fine to take Gamma shift as scheduled, despite the fact that she hadn't had a chance to sleep since they had boarded.

"I'm fine." She'd said, waving off his concerns, "You have Alpha in the morning, and even you aren't allowed to work a quad."

She was right, of course, but that didn't mean his brain or his body would cooperate. He'd given up trying to sleep about an hour into Gamma. He'd regret it tomorrow, but he was way too buzzed on adrenaline to sleep. 

There was a knock at the door that led to his and Spock's shared bathroom. Even if Spock had knocked at his hallway door, Jim would have known it was him. Two raps, brisk and efficient, loud enough to be heard from all corners of the room, but quiet enough so as not to disturb anyone else in their hall trying to sleep. A very calculated, logical knock.

"Come in." Jim called. 

Spock opened the door, stepping into Jim's room carefully. Jim suddenly became hyper-aware that it was already kind of a mess, despite only occupying it for an hour.

"I wondered if you might were interested in a game of chess." Only then did Jim notice the chessboard Spock was holding. Chess had been a tradition they'd picked up at the Academy, after everything with Nero had gone down. Spock had mentioned once that he found it "a sufficient distraction". Jim found he shared the sentiment.

"That would be great."

They played in comfortable silence for about half a game. Jim finally broke the silence after he took Spock's bishop.

"I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Negative." Spock said, moving his queen in what was probably an extensively calculated move, "Though I did hear that you were awake, and calculated a 78.8% chance that your movement was due to stress."

"Thus, the chess." Jim said, moving one of his pieces at random. It would probably bite him in the ass later, but the look on Spock's face as he tried to figure out what strategy Jim was employing that could have possibly warranted a move like that was worth it. 

"Indeed." Spock said, still looking puzzled at Jim's mood. 

A few turns went by. Jim's move, did in fact, come back to get him, though he found himself not caring all that much. 

"Do you think I made the right call? With the hailing?"

"Yes." Spock said, without hesitation, "As I said to Commander Pike, I believe your actions were in the best interest of the ship and the crew. Furthermore, if I had believed your actions to be unwise, I would have alerted you of my opinion. It is my job as First Officer to do so." 

He didn't seem conflicted at all. Jim envied the way Spock always managed to take every problem, deconstruct it, and then compartmentalize it in neat little boxes. Jim never was able to make things so manageable. They just rolled around in his head until he forgot or pushed them to the back of his mind. 

"Checkmate." Spock added, as an afterthought. Jim studied the board, then knocked his king over in defeat.

"What's the score again?"

Spock was silent for a second, calculating.

"I have won 52.6% of our games, while you have won 48.4%."

"I'll catch up to you eventually." Jim promised, grinning.

"It is possible, though highly unlikely." Spock said.

"Possible is all I need." 

"I have found that to be a true statement on more than one occasion." Spock agreed. 

They played another game, and Jim lost again, but he felt less scattered by the end of it. He glanced at his watch. If he fell asleep soon, he could get a good four hours in before he had to get up for Alpha.

"Thanks, Spock. This was really helpful."

"I am glad I was able to be of aid." Spock said, starting to pack up the chess set. Jim helped him. When all the pieces were set away and the box was shut, Spock hesitated before standing.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I am simply reminded of Vulcan saying." 

"Well what is it?"

" _Kaiidth_." Spock said, the Vulcan word sliding off his tongue easily, natively, "What is, is. Focusing on our actions of the past is not productive or beneficial. Only the future matters." 

This was clearly in reference to Jim's earlier question, which was maybe why Spock was hesitant to bring it up. He had probably deduced that Jim's restlessness and the his handling of the incident earlier were connected.

"It's not always that simple. Actions have consequences." Jim countered.

"Perhaps." Spock said, with the tiniest, most Vulcan shrug, "But dwelling on our mistakes does not fix them. I have meditated on this saying extensively since the loss of my home planet, and have found it beneficial. The only way forward is to exist in the present."

Jim blinked. For Spock, that was a lot of opening up.

"I'll think about it." He found himself saying. Who knows, maybe he actually would. That seemed to be a satisfactory answer for Spock, because he nodded, bid Jim goodnight, and retreated to his own quarters. Jim crawled into bed, turned off the lights, and got a solid four hours of sleep before the next morning.

**Author's Note:**

> I stole the idea of kirk training puppies and thursday drinks from Atlas by distractedkat, because when i first wrote this i didn't intend to post it and i couldn't bear to take it out. sorry!!! that fic is so good!!!


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